Finalist 2010

13 August 2008

"Kurva! Not him again!"

The beer menu in the Czech Inn rarely bears any resemblance to what's written -- often in biro -- on the keg fonts. Having ordered my lunch today I took a good long look at the menu and then the bar taps, supervised by the very patient barman who was single-handedly running the daytime shift in this very evening-orientated pub.

Between the Radegast and Staropramen, I spotted one I hadn't seen on previous visits, nor on the menu. "Pepinova Destika? What's that then?""It's a new Czech lager," came the reply. Good enough."I'll have one of those please."

It certainly looked the part when it was brought to my table: pure gold with a gorgeous fluffy topping of froth. In a proper Czech mug it would have looked even better, but never mind. There's a nice sparkle to it, accentuating the pilsner hops sharpness. The dominant flavour, though, is a kind of candy floss super sweetness. It's not a heavy, malty sweetness, nor any way cloying, but much much lighter. This sugary quality in no way detracts from what is, in essence, a no-frills drinking lager. Fluffy, but definitely not frilly.

Put with a plate of tender beef goulash made with a generous hand on the paprika plus a few inch-thick slices of knedlíky and you've got half an hour of unfussy pleasure.

The wonderful thing about Slavic languages is that all the important words are similar, thus from the Baltic to Balkans, "pivo" will get you a beer, "chleb" will get you bread and "kurva" will get you a smack in the mouth from the woman you just called a whore.

It is quite common to hear "kurva" as almost every other word - similar to "like" when talking to Americans, also common is "ty vole" pronounced almost "tee vol eh", which literally mean "you ox" but is used as "idiot" and even something like "bloody hell".